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Raising a cheeky smile she responded: "No dear, do you?" Her humour certainly has not faded.

Miss Scrimgeour is either one of the most modest people I've met or 100 years is starting to take its toll. I think both.

Luckily two of her closest chums were able to shed some light.

Betty Simpson and Pam Stent spoke fondly of Miss Scrimgeour as they reminisced over everything she did for them, the hospital and the Whanganui community.

Ms Simpson met Miss Scrimgeour when she was a trainee nurse at Nelson Hospital and Miss Scrimgeour was the assistant matron.

She describes Miss Scrimgeour as having two sides; her business side and her "heart of gold".

"She was quite firm, she knew what she wanted but had a nice gentle touch. You didn't argue with Catherine."

As a matron Miss Scrimgeour would inspect all the wards - making sure the quilts were straight and the patients were seated upright.

"She had very high standards and maintained them ... and she told us if we didn't. But she never raised her voice ... you looked and you just obeyed."

It wasn't long before Miss Scrimgeour was offered the role of Whanganui Hospital's head matron marking a significant era of Miss Scrimgeour's life.

"Together with Doctor Widdowson and Keith Harris, the three ran the hospital for many years and it was Catherine's role to advise the board on all of the nursing spectrum not just in Whanganui but the outer regions too."

Catherine Scrimgeour in 1973, the year she retired as Whanganui Hospital's head matron. Photo/File

Ms Stent was working as an adminstrator at the Whanganui Hospital when she first met Miss Scrimgeour.

She said even though Miss Scrimgeour was so far up the ranks she always made herself available to deal with any issues.

"She respected her power but she never abused her power."

Ms Simpson soon jumped aboard the Whanganui venture after Miss Scrimgeour offered her a job as a staff nurse in the polio ward working with the iron lung machines.

"It was a pretty horrific ward to work in and I never forgave Catherine for putting me there but she knew I had done the training so it made sense, I guess."

Common in that time period, polio was a vicious virus that infected the bowel and from there attacked the nervous system, causing meningitis or paralysis.

Ms Simpson said it was funny looking back, now that ward did not exist.

"Some people were lucky and recovered but a lot of them never got their health back and children who recovered from the virus were usually struck with it again after a few days."

Fortunately an immunisation was discovered and New Zealand was declared polio-free in 2000.

Ms Stent said there were many significant changes to health during Miss Scrimgeour's time as head matron.

People who needed their appendix taken out had to endure open surgery and were expected to stay in hospital for at least 10 days to recover. Now appendix removal is conducted with keyhole surgery and patients are usually discharged from hospital the next day.

Children under the age of 12 were not allowed to visit the hospital and fathers could not be present while their child was being born.

"It was a different time but Catherine managed every change beautifully," Ms Stent commented.

Ms Simpson remembered a time that she felt reflected Miss Scrimgeour's "heart of gold".

"I had just become a night supervisor, which is when you are a night girl on your own. I had been quite ill carrying my second child and Cath said to me she would leave her flat open if I needed a 15-minute laydown and I've never forgotten it.

"Keep in mind there was a sister above me and then a supervisor and then an assistant principal so it was not common for someone that high up to do something like this."

While continuing to work she cared for "two aunts" who lived with her in her Whanganui East riverside home in Sedgebrook St.

And from the 1960s to the early 1980s she was a member of the Whanaganui Branch of National Council of Women NZ (NCW).

During her time with the NCW she represented the Nurses Association and became Whanganui NCW president from 1970 to 1974.

Over the years the gender equality organisation fought on many health issues including domestic and sexual violence, sexual and reproductive health, access to healthcare including abortion, and mental health issues.

Miss Scrimgeour was president when the NCW national conference was held in Whanganui in 1974, entertaining members of the national executive at her Sedgebrook St home.

National Council of Woman Whanganui branch former presidents Kathleen Mayson (left) and Catherine (right) with current president Jenny Saywood (middle).